But he made his fortune (yes, off the back of the fortune his father made) before holding public office.

The Obamas were upper middle class, at best, before entering politics. Now there are $500,000 speeches given to Wall Street, and $60 million book deals. Who knows how much Netflix is going to pay him for a show.

1) If Trump still has a fortune, it is in spite of his business dealings, not a result of them. Six bankruptcies... ill advised spending sprees and then humiliating fire sales... he could have come out better financially just putting his inheritance into a low cost S&P index fund...

2) Obama, on the other hand, has earned whatever new wealth he and Michelle have accumulated. It's not his fault that people want to hear him speak, read what he writes, etc. If Netflix seriously augments his net worth, who are we to whine about it?

he could have come out better financially just putting his inheritance into a low cost S&P index fund...

I suppose that might be technically accurate.

But then what would he live on? He would have chosen in 1980 (or whenever) to sell all assets (which he couldn't do at the time) and invest all in the S&P and do what exactly? Live like a pauper?

Instead he invested in real estate, made some television shows, sold this and that, and lived like a billionaire.

Yeah, he probably should have listened to you.

Everybody who had any money in 1980 who could have sold all their assets in 1980 and invested everything in the stock market would likely have a higher net worth now... But what do you live on, then? Your money is all tied up. Just become a subsistence farmer?

Instead, there are billions and billions of dollars while he lives like a billionaire.

I don't like Trump, but this little analysis is as poorly thought-out a critique as I can possibly imagine.

2) Obama, on the other hand, has earned whatever new wealth he and Michelle have accumulated. It's not his fault that people want to hear him speak, read what he writes, etc. If Netflix seriously augments his net worth, who are we to whine about it?

The point from the very beginning is the notion that I hear, from the politicians themselves, that they run for office as a "public service". This is easily and obviously dismissed as grandstanding.

The Clintons and the Obamas went into politics to gain power, but that's not new to politicians in general, as that's what they've been doing since Sumer.

But they now also get rich.

So spare me the bulls**t about "public service". You got rich.

None of this is real. Come on. From the micro (you're all Russian bots) to the macro (we're in a simulation of the past from some rich kid in 2813), let's just all agree that our lives are a beautiful fiction.